the annaren nursery rhyme [spoiler warning]

[StarLily]

one is the singer hidden from sunlight
two is the seeker fleeing from shadows
three is the journey taken in danger
four are the riddles answered in treesong:
earth, fire, water, air
spells you OUT!

i thought here we could talk about this, because since it has come up in each book so far and because it seems important. here are my thoughts on the subject:

i think that they could all refer to maerad, but in the riddle arkan tells maerad that she is the player, the singer, as well as the seeker, which would only leave the journey, but then again arkan also refers to inka-reb as the Singer too, which left me confused cuz he is sort of hidden from sunlight considering he speaks to few people and lives with wolves, and then the spells you out part could also refer to when arkan tells maerad that the treesong will not be free unless by her hands....

and another thought of mine was that if this was a TRADITIONAL annaran nursury rhyme, then wouldn't cadvan or nelac know about it?

[Gemini]

and another thought of mine was that if this was a TRADITIONAL annaran nursury rhyme, then wouldn't cadvan or nelac know about it?

Did Arkan actauly mention the ryhme? It's been ages since i read it, because if not, it could have been written afterwards.

Also, i remember a convo in riddle where Cadvan (i think) says something about about nursery ryhmes children recite that their parents never taught them, and no one remebers where they come from. It could be like that.

Maybe that's another clue to the treesong, children's ryhmes, the innocnet remember things that the tainted forget.

(that sort of reminds me of Sabriel, you know how she has to ask the child about the chater?)

[Inka_Reb]

I think that the nursury ryhme was written after this whole event and it might be depicting a famous story (i.e Chosen One vs Nameless One). Yeh I think Cadvan said that they were never taught the ryhme but it is said by children from Suderian to Zmarken (or was that the reed flute thingy ) Yeh I remember that in Sabriel.

Does this make sense at all???

[whitesilkbreeze]

I haven't read The Riddle yet, so my conjecture may be far off the mark. (It's still sitting on my shelf, waiting for The Crow to be bought before I devour it. I don't want to mope around not knowing when I'll get my hands on the next book like what happened after I read The Gift. )

When I first finished the book, I thought that the singer would be Maerad, and hidden from sunlight would be when she was in Gilman's Cot. There she was hidden from the Light, Barding, and other good things. Sunlight can also symbolise knowledge, so I thought she was hidden from the knowledge of others; no one knew she was there until Cadvan brought her out.

Which would make Cadvan the seeker, fleeing from shadows. The shadows seemed to me to be the Landrost, as well as the rest of the dark forces in league with the One Who Threw His Name Away. Cadvan is a seeker of sorts -- he looks for the truth. He is also the one who sought Maerad out, even if it was by accident.

The journey is their search for something to stop the Dark from becoming victorious -- as far as I know, the Treesong is key to this -- and it is evidently perilous since many are tracking them down. It gets worse later when other Bards also start to look for them.

The riddles (everything they want to know) would be answered by the Treesong. I don't quite know what the earth, fire, water, air part means, although they are the four basic elements of the world and I supposed had something to do with the Elidhu and/or many separate forces uniting together to provide some kind of harmony and co-operation against the Dark. The "spells you OUT" bit always sounded rather dangerous to me, though; as if it meant someone would cease to exist -- and it might not be the bad guy.

[Inka_Reb]

wow. that makes a lot of sense. I thought Maerad was the seeker looking for the Treesong but i like your idea of Cadvan being it better. I also think the "spells you OUT" bit ment that all the Elidhu(Earth, Fire, Water, Air) have to reunite to defeat the Nameless One.

[Lemur_Girl]

Whoa, I kindof agree with all the ideas here...they're all good...the "spells you OUT" thing could have some great meaning...it could also mean that they're playing a game and one child has lost so they are out sorry I'm really dumming things down aren't I? anywho I like the point Inka Reb made about the children saying rhymes that they were never taught, it almost sounds as though children are going to have an important role!

honestly I don't know what to think jus' waitin' to find out

[StarLily]

i thought (as i mentioned above) that the spells you OUT thing could stand for maerad releasing the treesong? cuz arkan said that was the only way the osng would be released, maybe she could stand for fire in earth fire water and air? arkan could be water....

anyone catching my train of thought?

[Silver Serpent]

I think that the nursury ryhme was written after this whole event and it might be depicting a famous story (i.e Chosen One vs Nameless One). Yeh I think Cadvan said that they were never taught the ryhme but it is said by children from Suderian to Zmarken (or was that the reed flute thingy ) Yeh I remember that in Sabriel.

Does this make sense at all???

Very good point- I was thinking along the same lines as Gemini...

[whitesilkbreeze]

i thought (as i mentioned above) that the spells you OUT thing could stand for maerad releasing the treesong? cuz arkan said that was the only way the osng would be released, maybe she could stand for fire in earth fire water and air? arkan could be water....

anyone catching my train of thought?

That would be very cool indeed. Like I said, I haven't read the Riddle yet, so I bet there are lots of potential ideas there that could be picked up on!

[Silver Serpent]

I've caught your train Starlily. (of thought that is)

[Cait]

choo choo! chugga chugga chugga chugga chugga chugga... i'm right there next to you! on the train of thought that is...

though i think the 'spells you out!' could just be a ending added by children to make a choosing rhyme.. like nutcracker, nutcracker, crack my nut! (my fav from primary school) or scissors, paper, rock... you know?

[Lemur_Girl]

yeees, yes. either way would be good

[Alassë]

I've had a couple of thoughts considering this topic if you'd like to hear them??

*cant hear anything, aaah well take that as a yes then *

At first i thought that it was basically a depiction of the whole story, so Maerad is the one hidden from Sunlight.
The two are M and C.
The three are Maerad, cadavn and Hem.
But i'm not sure about the 4th bit, unless thats simply the riddles.

My other idea, which i've just had and quite liking (though it could of course be wrong) is that each stanza is a representation of what happens in each of the books. So...

So the first is The Gift, in which Maerad spends most of her time without the Speech and thus not fully understanding the Light.

The second, The Riddle is the journey M and C take fleeing from shadows (ever thought this is like Norloch, its become quite a shadowy place with both the dark and the Light).

I would then say that the 3rd will be the Crow in which i think M and C and hem with make some sort of journey together to discover something ( their past, more of the Treesong etc).

Then the Singing would be the last stanza in which the riddle/mystery is solved and the answer to the Treesong and evrything would be discovered.

Is this really wrong??

Alassë

[Inka_Reb]

I've
At first i thought that it was basically a depiction of the whole story, so Maerad is the one hidden from Sunlight.
The two are M and C.
The three are Maerad, cadavn and Hem.
But i'm not sure about the 4th bit, unless thats simply the riddles.
Alassë

Wow that makes sense! I never thought of the ) numbers representing people...cleevverr....

[StarLily]

you know i think each stanza going wiht each book makes enough sense to perhaps work you know.... hmmmm..... but do any of you think Inka-reb is involved cuz Arkan does refer to him as the Singer in the riddle